Thank you for “following” my blog and that follow brought me to yours, Gareth.

I enjoyed your blog post, a shrewd combination of popular history with your story/theme on marketing weaved into it. First time I’ve come across this technique. Excellent! For me, yours is a novel approach. I also enjoy bloggers who post well-researched and thought through posts as opposed to those who bang out dozens a week.

Regarding Gettysburg—I’m a fan of geopolitics—historians and analysts join the dots after the fact, with the full benefit of hindsight. They help us make sense out of chaos.

You used the historical events well to press home your point regarding marketing which is informative and cause for thought. Thank you.

Gen. Ewell (now in charge of Jackson’s Corps) who had basically routed the Union troops in his sector by evening of the first day, failed to push on in pursuit of the enemy as ordered by Lee, thereby allowing the enemy forces time to regroup and gather their troops in defense of Cemetery Hill. That failure started the ball of defeat rolling for the Confederate troops. I can’t say Lee wasn’t to blame later when he refused to make a night march with his army around the Union’s left flank. Many believe they could have succeeded in getting behind the Union army, leaving the way clear for an attack on Washington, DC.

From what I gather – and I am by no means an expert on Gettysburg or the American Civil War – there are conflicting versions of this event, specifically about the orders that were/wern’t given to Ewell.

This is an interesting article that sums up the other side of the argument (https://www.historynet.com/did-lt-gen-richard-ewell-lose-the-battle-of-gettysburg.htm) that claims “Lee sent no definitive orders directing Ewell to pursue the enemy when the Union lines broke at Gettysburg, and Ewell was not benumbed by indecision when he should have been chasing the Federals to prevent them from establishing an impregnable position on top of Cemetery Hill.”

To be honest, I couldn’t conclude for sure what actually happened regarding the order to advance, but it seems clear to me that Lee (and the men under his command) made some big mistakes during the battle that could have been avoided.

I’m aware there are two (maybe more) viewpoints of the story about whether or not Ewell should’ve pushed on the evening of that first day. I’ve always believed that Lee, now engaged in the war’s biggest battle, MIGHT HAVE believed that Ewell would press on surely as Jackson would have. Still, several factors worked together to bring on the defeat, including Stuart’s cavalry gone astray, leaving Lee somewhat blind. My thought is he should have taken Longstreet’s advice (I believe it was Longstreet, and maybe others) to use the cover of darkness to get around and behind the enemy. And I’ll never quite understand Lee’s command to charge the Union’s center on day three.

Then again, the Confederates let a HUGE opportunity to end the war quickly when they failed to advance on to Washington in the footsteps of the routed and bewildered Union forces at First Manassas. Interesting stuff.

Very well put together Gareth👏
Same set of information and interpreted differently 😊 : that is our mind; rational, thinking mind has its limitations. It can only process information from its past stored memories, experiences and their interpretations.
If we want to live in these era of excess of information- there is only one way — Meditation. Regular meditation makes us intuitive; our heads and hearts start to sync more …..